The Fullness of Salvation 6
Salvation From Spiritual Bondage to Spiritual Freedom
Whatever can be found in the Scriptures is true for whoever will read the promise, put his or her faith in God, and obey God until the blessing comes. In addition, there are times and seasons when particular areas of redemption, of the Kingdom of God, are being stressed by the Spirit of God.
It is the writer’s point of view that release from spiritual bondage is being emphasized by the Spirit in the present hour. Spiritual bondage, as we are defining it in our present outline of salvation, consists of unclean spirits that dwell in our flesh along with our soul and spirit or, because of some tendency in us, have access to our flesh and soul. Every true saint of history has walked in faith, keeping his bodily lusts under control by the help of the Holy Spirit. Now the Lord has come to His Church to deliver us from the spirits that have kept us in spiritual bondage.
Notice that evil actually dwells in our flesh as an alien force:
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (Romans 7:20)
It is not the flesh itself that is sinful, it is the sin dwelling in the flesh that is sinful.
How did the body of sin enter us? By inheritance, by a sudden shock or wound, and by our deeds.
Many of the spirits and moral weaknesses that plague the sincere Christian have been inherited from his parents, grandparents, and other ancestors. Demons of occult practices are examples of inherited sin.
We of the twentieth century may regard curses as something of past ages. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes the curse of God rests on us because of the practice of sin by our ancestors or by ourselves. Also, there are practitioners of evil, such as witches, who are able to bring people into bondage.
When people are brutalized or injured in some manner, such as by rape or child molestation, it may open the door in the personality for the entrance of guilt, shame, lust, or some other spiritual bondage.
A leading cause of spiritual bondage is our disobedience to the written Word or to our conscience. The Word of God commands us to forgive our enemies. When we do not forgive immediately, gaining victory through the grace of Christ, but harbour unforgiveness and grudges, we open the door to the entrance of evil spirits of resentment, malice, bitterness, and hatred. These enter our flesh and make it impossible for us to forgive.
The sin which should have been rejected takes root in us. The result over a period of time is a tree of evil in us to which the axe must be laid.
Adam and Eve were the first humans to open the door to evil spirits.
Now it is time for the God of Heaven to bring judgment on evil spirits. If we are willing and obedient the judgment will fall on the spirits. They will be cast out and we will be brought into spiritual freedom. It is an eternal judgment on the enemies of God.
The spiritual deliverance experienced by the victorious saints is the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth and the beginning of the redemption of the material creation.
If a Christian does not cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the removal of evil from his personality, then the Divine judgment will fall on that individual. Whether his spirit is saved in the Day of Christ depends on the will of God.
All sin will be cast into the Lake of Fire. If the believer is not willing to be separated from his sin he will be cast into the Lake of Fire whether or not he professes faith in Christ.
All sinning spirits will be cast into the Lake of Fire. No sinning spirit will be permitted to enter through the gates into the holy city, the new Jerusalem. The Lake of Fire has authority over sinning spirits.
How will God deliver His elect, and then the creation, from the bondage of unclean spirits?
Christian teachers have made various assumptions concerning the manner in which God delivers the believer from evil spirits. There are two major assumptions: (1) when our sins are forgiven and Christ is born in us the evil spirits flee from our personality; and (2) our deliverance will occur by some means after we die and pass into the spirit realm or when we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
There are two problems with the first assumption. First, the writings of the New Testament do not suggest that the believer no longer has a problem with sin, but exhort the Christian to guard himself constantly against temptation. When he does sin he is to confess his sin. Many passages from Paul, and the other Apostles as well, counsel the Christian concerning the danger of lapsing into sin.
Second, the behaviour of Christian people reveals the presence of every type of evil spirit: adultery, fornication, the lust of the eyes, child molestation, outbursts of anger, spite, malice, bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred, jealousy, envy, several kinds of occult practices, drunkenness, addiction to drugs, the love of pleasure more than the love of God, pride, haughtiness, arrogance, the spirit of division, criticism, gossip, gluttony, disobedience, rebellion, spiritual ambition, murder, impatience, cowardice, unbelief, lying, stealing, covetousness, idolatry, avarice, to name a few. This is what we find in the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To say such spirits are not present in the Christian churches is to ignore reality. These behaviours are present. They are practiced. The Christians are bound with such unclean spirits even though they have faith in the Lord Jesus, perhaps speak in tongues and prophesy, and are attempting to serve God.
The second assumption, that we are released from moral bondages after we die may be true. But what passage of Scripture suggests we are delivered from moral bondages on the basis of physical death? After all, physical death is the last enemy to be destroyed. If physical death is our enemy, how has it then become our redeemer?
What passage proclaims we are released from moral bondages when we rise to meet the Lord in the air?
Moral bondages originate in the spirit realm, not in the flesh of man. Lust is an evil spirit. The body of man contains biologic urges, but the lust that fills the earth today is not coming from man’s biologic urges just as gluttony is not his normal appetite for food.
The nature of these bondages is spiritual. They can be cast out of our flesh.
On what basis, then, do we suppose our entrance into the spirit realm delivers us from evil that is spiritual in nature?
There only is one Redeemer and one Judge. His name is Christ.
If we are to be delivered from evil spirits it must be at the hands of the Lord Jesus. There is no other redeemer.
The Lord Jesus is able to judge the evil in us and to deliver us. The time has come for such judgment to begin, and it is beginning in the house of God:
Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (I Peter 4:5-6)
Again:
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (I Peter 4:17)
It is the writer’s point of view that Christ began His work of judgment immediately after His ascension into Heaven, that it has continued since that time, and that it now is increasing greatly in intensity in preparation for the marriage of the Lamb. The Bride is making herself ready by washing the robes of her moral conduct in the blood of the Lamb.
The Prophets of Israel revealed that the Lord will judge His people:
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)
Who is it who has filthy garments? It is the daughters of Zion. What city is it that is guilty of bloodshed? It is Jerusalem, the city of God.
How does the Lord intend to cleanse the daughters of Zion and the city of Jerusalem? By the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.
This means that on the Church of the end-time there will fall the Spirit of judgment and of burning from God. God will cleanse His Church by judgment and burning.
Malachi declares:
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Malachi 3:3)
When will such cleansing take place? Probably not after Jesus returns with His Bride in glory but prior to His visible appearing.
The coming of the Lord to purify His royal priesthood will take place before He returns in glory so His Bride may be cleansed and prepared to be revealed together with Him in the sight of the nations of the earth.
This is the meaning of Hebrews 9:28: "to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
The salvation to come in the last days includes the release of the church from spiritual bondage.
John the Baptist spoke of the coming of the Lord to judge His people:
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is more powerful than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:11,12)
"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."
The fourth chapter of I Peter speaks of the "fiery trial" that is to test the believers. Each saint must be baptized with the fire of God, with the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. All that is of Satan must be burned out of us by judgment.
Many of the sufferings we endure are for the purpose of sanctifying us:
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (I Peter 4:1)
Experienced Christians of our day are discovering that the Lord is causing the evil in their flesh to be exposed. Behaviours that for many years have been held down by prayer and self-control seem to be raising their heads.
Why is this? It is because the spirit of judgment and burning, the baptism of fire, is causing sin and rebellion to be revealed. God is judging the evil in us. He is shaking us so everything that is not of Him will be removed.
What do we do when we find there is evil in us? We confess it. We call it by name. We repent of it. We ask God to forgive us and cleanse us (I John 1:9).
Sometimes it is sufficient for us to confess our sins to God. On other occasions it is helpful to confess our sins to our wife, or husband, or to another Christian of the same sex as ourselves who is mature enough to help us without stumbling himself and without gossiping.
We can help one another by casting out the devil. Every Christian is authorized to cast out devils. Casting out devils is the first sign to follow the believer.
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; (Mark 16:17)
Let us say a brother or sister is bound by violent outbursts of anger, or the lust of the eyes, or some aspect of the occult. Let him name the spirit troubling him, or describe the behaviour as accurately as he can.
Then let one or two Christians of the same sex as himself or herself name the spirits causing the problem and cast them out in the name of the Lord Jesus.
We stand in the cross of Christ. We do not pray in our own name or by our own authority. We pray in Jesus’ name and by His authority. We command the devils to leave our brother or sister. They indeed shall leave him or her.
Where do we send the demons? We cast them away from us and away from our families. We remove them from the people who are of concern to us.
To the writer’s knowledge, the demons have not as yet been assigned to the bottomless pit. In fact, it appears the demons are entering the earth in increasing numbers, especially coming into the wealthy nations that are giving themselves over to immorality.
If we cast out the demons from an individual, it is that person’s responsibility to live henceforth unto the Lord Jesus so the demons do not return.
We are in a fierce battle. We are in an hour when the spiritual atmosphere is becoming thick with the demons. At the same time the Lord Jesus is issuing authority to us so we can bind the demons and cast them out.
Do not be afraid. Do not become introspective or filled with gloom. Do not look for devils, pay attention to them, or otherwise make them the focus of your salvation.
Keep your eyes steadily on the Lord Jesus. You are a soldier of Christ. March forward in victory in His name without condemning yourself.
When the Spirit of God reveals a bondage in your personality, confess it to God or to a fellow saint. God will forgive and cleanse you (I John 1:7-9). The prayers of another Christian will help greatly—especially at first as you are learning to walk in the open confession of sins.
Put to death through the Holy Spirit the deeds of your flesh. Judge the spirits. Tell them they are condemned to the Lake of Fire, that they do not belong in the Body of Christ.
Disown the demons. Tell them they are not welcome, that you reject and repudiate them totally. Make no exception. Have no mercy on any devil, great or small, or on a familiar spirit (a spirit you have grown accustomed to conversing with). Cast them all out. Walk in spiritual holiness before the Lord. This is the path to spiritual freedom.
As we have stated, the churches of Christ are filled with unclean spirits of every kind. Now it is time to bring the judgment of Christ on these unclean spirits. Name them as you are able. Bring the fire of Christ on them. If you do not, they will destroy you. God will accept none of them. They all are destined for the Lake of Fire.
A major part of the salvation reserved for the last days is the separation of the Lord’s elect from every evil spirit. This separation will occur first in the victorious saints, and then through the victorious saints will spread to the remainder of the elect and finally to the nations of saved peoples of the earth.
The Lord’s people are as Lazarus. They have been called forth from the tomb but they are bound with grave clothes. Now it is time for the removal of the grave clothes. Judgment has come to the house of God.
We have referred to salvation from guilt to forgiveness, salvation from spiritual death to eternal life, and salvation from spiritual bondage to spiritual freedom. The fourth aspect of salvation is salvation from disobedience to obedience.